1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relates to signal lines, and more particularly, to signal lines in a display device and a method of fabricating the same. Although embodiments of the invention are suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for improving the output properties of a display and for preventing defects caused by a disconnected signal line
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device displays images by controlling light transmittance through liquid crystal. The LCD device includes an LCD panel having a plurality of pixel regions arranged in a matrix configuration, and a driving circuit the drives the LCD panel. The driving circuit includes a gate driver to drive gate lines, a data driver to drive data lines, and a timing controller to control the gate and data drivers.
The gate driver includes a shift register to output scan pulses in sequence. The shift register includes a plurality of stages cascaded one after another such that the plurality of stages sequentially output the scan pulses to scan the gate lines of LCD panel in sequence. At least one of a plurality of clock pulses having sequential phase differences is applied to the plurality of stages. Accordingly, the shift register needs a plurality of signal lines supplying the clock pulses. However, if the shift register is formed on a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate of the LCD panel, the plurality of signal lines are formed on the TFT array substrate.
When forming the signal lines on the substrate, the signal lines are formed of the same metal material as the gate or data lines with a width of several micrometers (μm) so as not to affect the resolution of the display. Since the signal line is formed in a single line, the signal line has a small cross-sectional area. Thus, when transmitting an electric signal to the shift register through the signal line, resistance is large due to the small cross-sectional area of signal line. The resistance degrades the electric signal such that the output signal from the shift register is deteriorated. Further, the signal line can easily become disconnected during fabrication, which increases the defect ratio of the display device.